Ok, I just had an idea while responding to another one of Corey's very verbose posts. In my experience playing RPGs, I would usually never use my protect, shell, haste, etc. stat boosting abilities unless it was a boss fight, simply because it wasn't worth it (the battles end to quickly). So here is a proposal I'm making: stat boosting items and spells can be used from the main menu before a battle initiates, and then the next battle (and only the next) is where those stat boosters take effect. This way, the player may feel more inclined to use them.

I'll post a list of points to ponder, but first I want you all to keep two things in mind:

#1: Regular battles in Allacrost are going to be longer and harder than most other classic RPGs (FF, CT)

#2: Skill points (SP) can not be recharged easily after a battle (there are either no SP-recharge items, or very very few).

Now here's the list of thoughts:

> Can items provide out-of-battle stat boosts as well as skills, or can this only be done via skills?

> Would such an allowance make it too easy for the player to abuse the battle system?

> Would this make boss battles too easy?

I swear I had some more thought points, but I forgot them already. I'm kind of undecided on this idea actually. On the one hand it seems great because in-battle boosting is a pain in the ass, but it may make the game too easy. I'm going to think about it a while before I cast my vote.

If allowing these spells to be cast prior to a battle would make the battles too easy, it might be a good idea to have the effects expire after a certain amount of time (be it real time, steps taken, or some other metric). Then the characters wouldn't be able to be in a constantly boosted state, but if they were in a particularly dangerous area or there was some foreshadowing of a possible boss battle, the player could put the spells into effect, gambling that the battle would happen soon enough to make them useful.